'Segregation suits the BJP at the moment. It will not suit them forever.'
'Is it not deplorable that even after 75 years of independence, there are people in our society who have been denied freedom?'
'Why do they talk about Narendra Modi insulting Oommen Chandy when he himself informed the PMO that he would not be available? Why did he write to Delhi that he was preoccupied on the 15th? After that, he should not make such noise about the function.'
'They have been pursuing their agenda of bulldozing everything and everybody on their way.' 'They suddenly see Rahul Gandhi standing in front of them without fear and fighting against them aggressively.' 'He doesn't show any compromise in his attitude towards fascism.'
'What the government should do is to use the vaccine judiciously, not just to prevent a third wave alone, but to stop the number of deaths happening in the interim.'
'Unemployment barely figures in the Budget except as a derived demand from the industry and infrastructure.' 'There is no effort at direct attack on unemployment.'
'The Sangh Parivar's position is that whatever gold that is there in a temple should remain there. It shouldn't be taken away by anyone.' 'See, we are not misappropriating anything; we are only using it for the welfare of the temple and the devotees.'
'Each cyclone has its own identity and its own behaviour based on the environmental conditions in the ocean and in the atmosphere.'
'I hope the Centre and the states will both act in the spirit of cooperative federalism and find acceptable solutions without testing the law and the limits of each other's power.' 'This should not be considered a wrestling match.'
'We still have 30,000-40,000 cases.' 'It is plateauing, but the number should definitely come down more so that we can convert the pandemic into an endemic.'
'Both the Centre and the states cannot say that they have been taking good care of public health.'
'Since we have to stop the pandemic, we have to use the vaccines now and that is why the emergency-use approval is justifiable.'
'Are they assuming that by the end of May or the 15th of June, we will see the end of the pandemic?'
'My parents were there to see me enrol as a lawyer. From afar itself, I could see tears in their eyes.' 'Three days after, I appeared in court for my first case, and my father was there to see me. He had tears in his eyes.' 'And even before I completed two months as an advocate, I won a case!'
'India is a founding and permanent member of this 'club of shame': Journalists are murdered on account of what they write or intend to write, but nobody is finally brought to justice in such cases.'
'If you can simplify the technology, you don't need a doctor or a highly qualified technician to work on the technology; even an Asha health worker or a similar front line health worker can use it with minimal training.'
'Putting tanks on the Ladakh border is not enough to combat China, what is needed to ensure resilience against any cyber-attacks or attacks in outer space or China flexing its economic muscle, as it did with Australia.'
The biggest achievement of the Modi government in the past one year was it could bring positivity in the minds of people and industry, says V P Nandakumar, executive chairman of the Manappuram Finance Ltd, in an interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com.
'Now that an extremist organisation like the PFI has been banned, it is time for the leaders to reach out to the minority community.' 'You need to have co-ordination between the State and the social fabric to send out the message that it is not directed at the community, and they should not feel vulnerable.'
Meet Sabriye Tenberken, a German woman who is changing lives in India.
'We need to prove to the world that quality vaccines and R&D are possible in India.'
''None of the existing vaccines have 100% efficacy.' 'Each vaccine will work openly on a certain percentage of the population.'
'The main reason is 'they' do not want to see Dalits especially in the morning!'
Bindu Sampath from Thiruvananthapuram is the voice of all those mothers who have lost their children to ISIS. Her habeas corpus petition for her daughter Nimisha, who got married and converted to Islam, was turned down. Now the NIA has found daughter and family to be with ISIS in Afghanistan, but Bindu has not given up hope to bring her back to India.
'I didn't want the biopic on Swami Chinmayananda to be a propaganda film,' filmmaker R S Prasanna tells Shobha Warrier/ Rediff.com
'The Indian State needs to focus on healthcare, education, infrastructure and law and order, and get out of all these regulatory cholesterols.' 'Then, India will fly.'
'India was fortunate to have a late entry into the pandemic; even the first wave entered India 2-3 months after many other countries experienced it.' 'Similarly, the second wave reached here after other countries went through it.' 'Despite having seen what other countries faced, we didn't ramp up our infrastructure sufficiently enough.' 'We remained highly under prepared.'
'The arrest of Kappan, the charge sheet and the way he is being treated show that they view journalism as a criminal activity.'
'Today, we have 150,000 orders a month. And a monthly sale of Rs 1 crore.'
'My joining the BJP will definitely result in a landslide migration of votes to the BJP.'
'What do the moves towards protectionism suggest?' 'That we do not have Aatmavishwas.' 'If you have self-confidence, confidence in your ability to compete with the best in the world, why do you need protectionism?'
'In the total of black wealth, only 1% or less than 1% constitute cash.' 'So, even if cash is completely weaned out, it impacts only 1% of the black wealth.'
'Those who should have been affected benefitted from demonetisation.' 'And the vast majority who should not have been affected lost out.' 'That is the ultimate result of demonetisation.'
'After the discovery of the biomarkers, Calpain and Inflammasomes, we know we have a biomarker to target.' 'That way, we can use the biomarkers for an early diagnosis of blood clotting due to hypoxia or low oxygen in the tissues, and can save a life.'
'What worked for the BJP were three things: Hindu nationalism, religion and a silent but strong anti-Muslim sentiment.'
'What a saint he was. What a godly person he was.'
'There are a lot of companies that have been struggling really hard expecting to do better year after year.' 'All these people will think now, "Let me not fight any more. Let me end this".'
'Unless Modi uses his power to make people work, he will not succeed. He may cry hoarse but he will not succeed.' V Kalyanam, Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com why Modi's Clean India campaign won't succeed easily.
'In 1981 when I had a project in Qatar, those in charge told me they would not like Indians in high positions; they felt Indians could work only as drivers, cleaners and labourers.' 'I challenged them and showed that Indians could do great work in all areas.' 'Today, in the Middle East, they insist on having Indians in all fields. Everybody believes Indians are capable, hard working and trustworthy,' Ravi Pillai, one of the most influential businessmen in the Middle East, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
'You just make the bureaucracy honest and make them function with integrity.' 'Everything will be taken care of after that.' 'But this Mission Karmayogi does not even mention these two words -- honesty and integrity.'
